Study of the features of "implicit theories of personality" at school age

Context and relevance. In practical psychodiagnostics, the problem of predicting personality behavior is relevant, which can be convergent (performing normative activities) and divergent (creative choice in life space). To solve the second problem, it is important to study the "implicit theories of personality" - the individual's ideas about the structure and mechanisms of the functioning of his or her personality, which are formed in everyday life and allow you to build predictions of behavior. Despite the knowledge of self-awareness, the use of psychometric strategies to study it remains insufficiently resolved. Purpose. Analyze the relationship between the "implicit theories of personality" that students use for self-description (internal) and those that they use to describe classmates (external). Hypothesis. The description of the personality characteristics of other people to a certain extent can correspond to those features that the individual discovers in himself. Categories used to describe themselves and others should have the same meaning. The structure of self-descriptions may differ from that of another person. Methods and materials. Sample: 66 students of a Moscow comprehensive school (35 boys, 31 girls), divided into two groups: V-VII classes (33 people) and VIII-X classes (33 people), as well as 6 class teachers. Questionnaire method: developed questionnaire "Student assessment sheet" (35 formulations, Likert scale with 4 degrees of compliance). Psychometric instruments: situational-specific questionnaires (test of examination anxiety, questionnaires of uncertainty, impulsivity, social competence, motivation of achievement, etc.) and universal personality questionnaires (Freiburg Personality Questionnaire, Personality Study Form). Methods of analysis: factor analysis by the method of main components with varimax rotation, correlation analysis by Pearson. Results. The external implicit theory of the student's personality has a simpler structure than the internal one: it consists of three factors - "diligence," "sociability" and "detachment" (while the internal includes 6 categories). Assessments of teachers and students on the criteria of "diligence" and "sociability" demonstrate a high degree of consistency, but consistency on the criterion of "detachment" is lower and decreases with age. There is a significant relationship between external assessments of diligence and objective indicators of academic performance in basic subjects, as well as behavior. No signs of psychological projection were found: there were no significant connections between the students' own personal characteristics and those traits that they attribute to others. External assessments of diligence and sociability correlate closely with the respective general and situational characteristics of the students assessed. Teachers "judgments about students" detachment do not correspond to their real personality characteristics, unlike peer assessments. There was a link between internal self-assessments (e.g. positive attitude towards school, identification with a class) and external assessments of others. Conclusion. The implicit theory of the student's personality includes internal (self-description) and external (description of other) orientations. The external theory is structured more simply (axes of "diligence," "sociability," "detachment") and largely reflects the real personal characteristics of students confirmed by standardized tests.